Patrick Raynal was born in 1946 in Paris but his heart is in Nice where he moved at age 14. He worked as a literary journalist for the French daily, le Monde and discovered several of the writers of the Missoula school. He is a novelist and short story writer and directed the Série noire at Gallimard from 1991 to 2005 before creating Fayard Noir. He has been active in various leftist movements, and more particularly in the Gauche prolétarienne movement. He is an admirer of Stevenson, London, Curwood, and Conrad, and it all started when he discovered the books of Raymond Chandler in his mother’s library. He has been writing noir mysteries since 1980 and has just published Lettre à ma Grand-Mère, a very personal book about his grandmother’s life based on her memories and a journal she kept during her period of deportation.
Bibliography : (In French)
- Lettre à ma Grand-Mère (Flammarion, 2008)
- Retour au noir (Flammarion, 2006)
- La farce du destin (Les contrebandiers éditeurs, 2004, avec J.-B. Pouy)
- Ki Du (Syros jeunesse, 2003)
- Ex (Denoël, 2002)
- Corbucci (Albin-Michel, 2001)
- La poignée dans le coin (Baleine, 2001)
- Le Marionnettiste (Librairie des Champs Elysées, 1999)
- Le ténor Hongrois (Flammarion, 1999 ; J’ai Lu, 2004)
- En cherchant Sam (Flammarion, 1998 ; Seuil, 1999)
- La Plaine (Ricochet, 1998)
- Nice 42e rue (Fleuve Noir et Baleine / Canaille / Revolver, 1997)
- La clé de seize (Baleine / Canaille / Revolver,1996)
- Né de fils inconnu (Albin-Michel, 1995)
- Arrêt d’urgence (Albin-Michel, 1990)
- Fenêtres sur femmes (Albin-Michel, 1988)
Synopsis of Lettre à ma Grand-Mère :
(loosely translated)
"I was brought up by my maternal grandparents and it was totally by chance that sixty years later I learned that my grandmother, number 38971, had kept a diary of her period of deportation to Ravensbrück. When I read her writings, I realized that it was not a diary but rather a record of her memories of her period of deportation. I decided to write about my discovery of Marie Pfister’s story. I let my own memories meld with hers and started writing things to her that I had never told anyone. I can’t begin to express the emotions I felt when I started reading her writings." A mature man uncovers the secret past in his long deceased grandmother’s writings. This book not only tells the story of a family secret, but also unravels the mysteries of a post-war childhood and the life of an ‘ordinary’ résistante. This book shows how men and women are the product of their parents’ history, even when it is secret.
